The invention relates generally to signaling techniques in a telecommunication system and, more particularly, to a system and method for marking calls and allowing a called party to control receipt of the calls.
Telephone solicitations, especially those that are not based on a prior relationship, or xe2x80x9ccold callsxe2x80x9d, are often very time consuming and inefficient for both the calling and the called party. With respect to the calling party, or telemarketer, a great deal of time is wasted on unproductive phone calls, such as to called parties that are not at home or who are not receptive to such calls. With respect to the called party, or potential consumer, undesired solicitations can be an annoyance, especially at certain times of the day or night.
Typically, the attempted efforts to alleviate the above described problems have been directed to the potential consumer. In particular, the efforts have been centered around the calling parties identification number (CLID). For example, many local exchange companies provide an xe2x80x9canonymous call blockingxe2x80x9d service which blocks calls with anonymous CLID""s. However, this service has several problems. For one, it may block too many calls, such as calls from out-of-state pay phones and the like. For another, many telemarketers buy telecommunication lines that have no CLID. The anonymous call blocking service does not block these calls.
The foregoing problems are solved and a technical advance is achieved by a system and method that controls calls, such as telephone solicitations, by a calling party to a called party. In one embodiment, a switch receives a call from the calling party and marks the call to identify it as a telephone solicitation. Such marking can be performed in various ways, such as altering a forward call indicator of an IAM message if the switch is using an ISUP procedure, or providing a station type with information digits used in multi-frequency signaling.
After the call has been marked, it can then be identified by a switch serving the called party as a telephone solicitation. In some cases, the same switch that marks the call also identifies the call. Once identified, the switch then analyzes a profile for the called party and determines how to complete the call. For example, if the profile indicates that the called party does not want to receive telephone solicitations, the call will not be completed to the called party, but instead will receive alternate treatment.
An advantage achieved with the present invention is that the calling party does not waste any time calling parties who are unreceptive to such calls.
Another advantage achieved with the present invention is that the called party is not inconvenienced with unwanted calls at times when they are not desired, but can receive such calls at other predetermined times.